Rationale's Something For Nothing is Everything

Now here's a song.

Zimbabwe-born singer-producer Rationale turned a few heads last year with Fuel To A Fire, an irresistibly dark song about being crushed by the demands of everyday life. A showcase for his voice - throaty, reverberant, spectacular - the song was picked up by Justin Timberlake and Elton John on Beats 1; NPR's Songs We Love; and Radio 1's Huw Stephens and Annie Mac.

Annie debuted the follow-up as her Hottest Record last night. Something For Nothing is a broiling soul song, full of snappy bass flourishes and blippy synths, while Rationale delivers a thrillingly urgent vocal: "I just wanna be the one you call when things go wrong."

"The stuff that I love and always come back to is groove-based... with a great vocal," the London-based singer told Annie Mac. "I was listening to a lot of Marvin Gaye and I wanted to come even slightly close to achieving anything great like that."

Did he manage it? Very nearly...

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